Archive | cupcake gauntlet

Cotton candy cupcakes

24 May

For this month’s Cupcake Gauntlet, I decided to be straightforward with the secret ingredient and showcase it throughout the cupcake. No cleverness, no alchemy. No miniature pieces of cake fried up like French Toast (though that was pretty creative)

For those of you who might be new to the Gauntlet, here’s the breakdown (Much like the 2nd chapter in the Babysitter’s Club Little Sister series, which was ALWAYS the same in every book. In other words, skip this if you already know all the details):

  • Taste testers suggest secret ingredient ideas the second week of the month. The ingredient needs to be seasonal, edible and not too rare or expensive.
  • Suggestions and the name of the suggester get written on a slip of paper, folded and tossed into my mixing bowl. I draw one slip.
  • I have the weekend to research the ingredient (if necessary) and come up with my cupcake recipe.
  • On Monday I contact the taste testers and inform them of the cupcake and announce the winner (who gets a free cupcake that week).

This month, taste tester and Cipher Primer Nikko finally tossed an ingredient suggestion into the hat, and lucky for him, I selected it. His suggestion of cotton candy came from the idea of the start of summer and carnivals.

To prepare, I did some research and found that Darla of Bakingdom had come up with a wonderful Honeydukes Candyfloss cupcake (Honeydukes is a sweet shop in the Harry Potter universe, and candyfloss is cotton candy). Her process for integrating the cotton candy into the cake and frosting made the most sense to me, so this recipe is an adaption of hers. She warned against using cotton candy flavoring, since it tends to come out very artificial, so I followed her advice.

Unfortunately, I’m not super pleased with these cupcakes. I couldn’t pick up the cotton candy in the cake, and it’s faint in the frosting as well. The garnish is also troublesome—to keep it from dissolving into the frosting, you have to garnish it right before eating. But to complicate matters more, you need to keep the cotton candy all clumped together before garnishing. Why? Well, last night I measured out my cotton candy tufts and sealed them in with the cupcakes (maybe the cupcakes moisture played a part in this, though they weren’t touching), and I awoke to crystallized bits of cotton candy. So for my morning delivery to Cipher Prime, I crumbled those bits into crystallized cotton candy sprinkles, instead of possibly leaving them with a mess.

Nevertheless, it’s a lesson learned and a cupcake baked.

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Cotton candy cupcakes

Yield: 14 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 oz cotton candy

Cotton Candy Buttercream Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 oz cotton candy
2 to 2 1/2 tbsp heavy cream

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks toward the center. Line pans with cupcake papers.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.

Whisk the egg for 20 seconds, then add the sugar and whisk an additional 30 seconds until thick and frothy.

Add the oil, vanilla, and almond extract, and beat until combined. Alternate the dry and wet ingredients and mix until combined.

If you plan to use food coloring (I did), I suggest doing it at this stage so you don't over mix the batter with the cotton candy in it.

FInally, tear up the cotton candy into small pieces and gently mix into the batter.

Divide the batter between 14 wrappers in the cupcake tins and bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack completely before frosting.

For the frosting, begin by tearing up the cotton candy and pouring the cream over it--this will dissolve it into a cotton candy goo. Let it sit 5-10 minutes, then use a silicone spatula to stir it and press out any lumps.

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add 1 cup of confectioners sugar and mix to combine.

Add the vanilla extract, melted cotton candy, and remaining sugar. Whip until light and fluffy.

Top the cupcakes with the frosting and sanding sugar (to mimic the sugary crunch of compressed cotton candy). When ready to serve, top with a tuft of cotton candy.

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Ancho and cayenne French toast cupcake with maple buttercream

19 Apr

The Gauntlet is back, and after a smash hit with last month’s Chocolate Stout Bacon Cupcake, I feel the trend of exciting ingredients and solid cupcake recipes continues to move forward.

For anyone new to the Gauntlet, here’s the breakdown:

  • Taste testers suggest secret ingredient ideas the second week of the month. The ingredient needs to be seasonal, edible and not too rare or expensive.
  • Suggestions and the name of the suggester get written on a slip of paper, folded and tossed into my mixing bowl. I draw one slip.
  • I have the weekend to research the ingredient (if necessary) and come up with my cupcake recipe.
  • On Monday I contact the taste testers and inform them of the cupcake and announce the winner (who gets a free cupcake that week).

For this month, I had yet another a holdover ingredient from February and March come through from Thorin: chile peppers. Because he was non-specific about what kind of chile peppers, I had more freedom about what I could select to work with. I’ve worked with chiles and chile products in the past, with my Sriracha Chocolate Cupcake and Spicy Mango Madness Cupcake, and I like the play of heat and sweet.

In our house, we have ancho chiles (fun fact, anchos are dried poblanos!), random dried chiles (smallish, bought in bulk), cayenne powder and habanero powder. I decided to work with the ancho and cayenne.

I really like the slow burn in these cupcakes, but they didn’t make for an easy baking night. I ended up baking them twice, perfecting the rise (my first attempt flat-topped out and the tops were crumbly). Getting the ancho chile to infuse well also wasn’t as easy of a task as I had hopped. Originally, I steeped a chopped up ancho chile in milk and took it from there, but found the flavor to be lacking. So I pureed the chile in and that was a little better, but not enough. Enter the cayenne, which then pulled together the heat and complemented the sweetness of the cake. For the second time around, I swapped in buttermilk for milk, rehydrated the chile in water, made a paste with it and added it at the end. Vast improvement.

The cupcakes photographed here were also topped with minis that I had baked, sliced in half, dipped in French toast batter, fried up, re-toasted and sliced in half. It was an overly-involved process, and I don’t feel like it delivered, so I didn’t share the process here. But I’m glad I tried it, just to see if it would work well (maybe better if the cake had staled a bit, instead of being fresh).

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Ancho and cayenne French toast cupcake with maple buttercream

Yield: 28 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 ancho chile, seeded, stemmed, rehydrated and pureed

Maple Buttercream Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners sugar
5 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Additional maple syrup to drizzle

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks toward the center. Line pans with cupcake papers.

De-stem, seed and chop 1 dried ancho chile. Heat up 1 cup of water and place the chile in it. Let it rehydrate for at least 30 minutes.

Remove the chile and place it with 2-3 tbsp of its water in a food processor and puree it to make a paste. Set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne together. Set aside.

Whisk the egg for 20 seconds, then add the brown sugar and whisk an additional 30 seconds until thick and frothy.

Add the oil, vanilla, and maple syrup, and beat until combined. Alternate the dry and wet ingredients and mix until combined.

Mix in the ancho chile puree.

Divide the batter between 28 wrappers in the cupcake tins and bake for 18 minutes. Cool on a wire rack completely before frosting.

For the frosting, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add 1 cup of confectioners sugar and mix to combine.

Add the maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla, and gradually add the remaining confectioners sugar. Whip until light and fluffy.

Fit a bag with an extra large round tip and pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes. You can garnish with a drizzle of maple syrup, or even pieces of French toast!

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Chocolate stout bacon cupcake with brown butter frosting and candied bacon

15 Mar


Another month, another Cupcake Gauntlet. Last month’s secret ingredient of Chinese Red Beans proved to be interesting and a challenge, and either people really liked the cupcakes, or were perplexed by them. I still stand by that sesame orange cake … I found it to be divine and definitely want to work with it again.

For anyone new to the Gauntlet, here’s the breakdown:

  • Taste testers suggest secret ingredient ideas the second week of the month. The ingredient needs to be seasonal, edible and not too rare or expensive.
  • Suggestions and the name of the suggester get written on a slip of paper, folded and tossed into my mixing bowl. I draw one slip.
  • I have the weekend to research the ingredient (if necessary) and come up with my cupcake recipe.
  • On Monday I contact the taste testers and inform them of the cupcake and announce the winner (who gets a free cupcake that week).

For this month, the second Gauntlet, I had fewer entries for the secret ingredient, but still a lot of good ones, ranging from plantains to champagne. I was crossing my fingers for grapefruit, from my newest taste tester Colleen, but it was not to be. Instead, a holdover ingredient from February came through from Drew: bacon.

Bacon is a great ingredient, but it also walks the line of “Ohmigod this has soooooo jumped the shark” blah, blah, blah. As so many people remind me, haters are gonna hate.

Because I already did a pancake-inspired cupcake with candied bacon, I knew I didn’t want to repeat any of those main ingredients, like buttermilk and maple. I also didn’t want to make a cupcake and just stick a piece of bacon on top, calling it a day. That’s not really … challenging. So I went with chocolate. And after seeing Twitter friend, local baker and my fellow Cupcake Smash competitor Stephanie of My Tiny Philadelphia Kitchen whip up a brown butter frosting for An Evening of Sweets and Treats, I decided I would try it myself for this cupcake. And it was genius. The frosting recipe I adapted was from My Kitchen Addiction. Also, if you’re new to brown butter, check out this great video from Food52.

Slipped between the chocolate cake–studded with bits of bacon–and brown butter frosting was a layer of ganache, because, really, why not? Then, using my favorite recipe for candying bacon easily in the oven, I made candied bacon crumbles to go on top of all of the cupcakes.

The final result is chocolately–helped in part by Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout, which is intensely sweet and flavorful–and bacony as well. The brown butter frosting lends a wonderful nuttiness to the cupcake.

My only revision would be to chopped the bacon for the cupcake even smaller … like bacon bit size. The slightly larger pieces (still pretty small, though) can be a little distracting in my opinion, and sometimes fall out when you’re eating the cupcake. Which means you just need to devour it quicker, I suppose.

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Chocolate stout bacon cupcake with brown butter frosting and candied bacon

Yield: 26 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup chocolate stout, divided
2 tbsp espresso powder
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 strips of thick sliced bacon, cooked, fatty parts discarded and crumbled (should yield 6-7 tbsp)

Chocolate Ganache
4 oz semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream

Brown Butter Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
4 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla
6 tbsp heavy cream

Candied Bacon Ingredients
6 strips thick-cut bacon
8 tbsp brown sugar, divided

Directions

Start with the candied bacon so it has time to cool. Heat the oven the 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a jellyroll pan with aluminum foil and set a wire cooling rack on the foil. Set aside.

Place 3 strips of bacon in a quart-sized self-sealing bag (I found this reduced mess) along with 3 tbsp of brown sugar. Massage the sugar onto the bacon. Remove from the bag and stretch out along the cooling rack on the pan. Repeat with the remaining bacon and 3 more tbsp of brown sugar.

Once all the bacon is in place, sprinkle on 1 tbsp of brown sugar. Place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, flip over the bacon and sprinkle on the last tbsp of brown sugar. (Note: My foil was a mess at this point and I ended up having to replace it mid-way through the second baking due to a smoky kitchen--from the dripping sugar and fat, not burning bacon--so my suggestion is to also replace the foil at this point).

Place back in the oven for an additional 10-15 minutes. I found that I got some nice crispy ends, that, while looked very dark, did not taste burned. If some of the middle of the bacon is still reddish, I suggest crumbling off all the dark bits (trust me) and putting the bacon back in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 more minutes (keep an eye on it). But that's my preference.

Once cooled (this surprisingly does not take long), crumble the bacon and set aside.

For the cupcakes, heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks toward the center. Line cupcake pans with papers.

For the cupcakes, combine flour, baking soda, salt and sugar, whisking to blend; set aside.

In a heavy-bottomed, medium pan, melt the butter on medium-high heat. Once melted, add 1 cup of the chocolate stout (reserving the remaining 1/4 cup for later) and whisk together. Add the espresso powder and cocoa--gradually--whisking to combine. The mixture should come to a simmer, but not a boil. You want it to thicken.

Once thickened, cool the cocoa mixture for about 10-15 minutes (the freezer is handy here).

In your stand mixer, whip together the eggs and buttermilk.

Once the cocoa mixture has cooled, slowly add a little bit of the mixture to temper the eggs, whisking constantly. Add the remaining mixture, whisking to combine (this might best be done by taking the bowl off the stand mixer and whisking by hand, then putting it back on to the mixer for the dry ingredients).

Add the dry ingredients in 3-4 stages, mixing well to combine. Add the vanilla extract and remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate stout and mix to combine.

Add the bacon crumbles and mix to combine.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about halfway full. Bake for about 20-22 minutes. When done, transfer tins to wire racks to cool 5 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.

As the cupcakes cool, make your ganache and frosting.

For the ganache, put the chocolate in a 2-cup measuring cup.

Heat the cream over medium high heat, bringing it just to a boil. Remove it from the heat and pour over the chocolate.

Stir to combine until the chocolate is full melted. If the ganache is not smooth enough, use an immersion blender.

Set aside to cool slightly.

For the frosting, cut the butter into even pieces. Place in a sauce pan that does not have a dark colored bottom (you need to be able to see the color change).

Heat over medium and melt the butter. Do not leave the butter unattended, because the butter's milk solids can burn, and then you'll need to start over.

Continue cooking until the butter smells nutty and the milk solids have dropped to the bottom of the pan and are light brown. Remove from the heat immediately and set aside to cool.

While the brown butter is cooling, dip the tips of the cupcakes in the ganache. Place on a tray and chill in the freezer for 10 minutes.

As the ganache sets, add the brown butter and vanilla in the bowl of your stand mixer with 1 cup of confectioners sugar, mixing to combine. Gradually add the remaining sugar in 1/2 cup increments, as well as the heavy cream in single tablespoon increments.

The frosting will look gritty before it looks smooth, but don't worry. It will come together. Once you've added all the sugar and all the cream, whip on high for a few minutes.

Fit a piping bag with an extra large French tip and pipe the frosting as a single dollop onto the ganache. Add the candied bacon and enjoy!

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Year of the Snake Chinese red bean, sesame and miso cupcakes

15 Feb

To challenge myself further in 2013, I’ve decided that–most likely every month, unless my taste testers riot–I will create cupcake recipes around a secret ingredient.

Enter the Cupcake Gauntlet. It’s my take on doing an Iron Chef-like baking challenge, without calling it Iron Cupcake (there’s a national baking competition already with that name).

Here’s the breakdown:
  • Taste testers suggest secret ingredient ideas the second week of the month. The ingredient needs to be seasonal, edible and not too rare or expensive.
  • Suggestions and the name of the suggester get written on a slip of paper, folded and tossed into my mixing bowl. I draw one slip.
  • I have the weekend to research the ingredient (if necessary) and come up with my cupcake recipe.
  • On Monday I contact the taste testers and inform them of the cupcake and announce the winner (who gets a free cupcake that week).

For the first Cupcake Gauntlet challenge I had ingredient suggestions ranging from honey to chili peppers, sour Skittles to … canned tuna fish (yuck). But there can only be one winning ingredient, and that was Chinese red beans (also known as azuki in Japan) from taste tester Dain.

This ingredient is also timely, since Chinese New Year began on Sunday and 2013 is the Year of the Snake.

I did some research and found out these smallish red beans are commonly used in Asian desserts, especially in a sweetened paste form. There are even some cupcake recipes available online that marry the flavors of azuki and matcha together.

Confession: I’ve never knowingly had sweetened red bean paste before, so I spent some time asking Dain questions. Then I went to my local Asian grocery store in search of it. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the paste, but I did find the dried red beans and a recipe on Epicurious, so I was set to make my own!

Since the Benne Wafer cupcakes were such a hit in 2012, I decided to take their base cake recipe and add some citrus. Then I whipped some of the red bean paste into a mousse to fill the cupcakes, the rest into a buttercream, and then finished with a miso caramel drizzle (because salted caramel sauce with some umami makes everything amazing).

This is an unusual cupcake, for sure, and I’m curious to see what everyone thinks of it. Though it might not be a crowd pleaser like my salted caramel cupcakes, I like that this exercise really pushed me to think creatively.

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Year of the Snake Chinese red bean, sesame and miso cupcakes

Yield: 30 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp orange extract
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Chinese Red Bean Mousse Ingredients
6 oz sweetened red bean paste
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract

Chinese Red Bean Buttercream Ingredients
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup Chinese red bean paste
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tbsp heavy cream

Miso Caramel Drizzle Ingredients
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp water
1/4 heavy cream
1/2 tbsp red miso

Directions

Start with the miso caramel drizzle first so it has time to cool to room temperature. Stir together granulated sugar and water in a saucepan.

Bring to a boil over medium high heat and cook without stirring until mixture turns a deep amber color.

Remove from heat and slowly add in cream until very smooth.

Add the miso paste and stir until fully combined.

Let caramel cool for about 20 minutes, until it is just barely warm and still pourable.

Next, work on the mousse. Whip the heavy cream to firm peaks using the whisk attachment. Add the vanilla and almond extract.

In a separate mixing bowl, add the Chinese red bean paste and half of the whipped cream. Gently mix to lighten.

Fold in the remaining whipped cream and chill until ready to use.

For the cupcakes, heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks toward the center. Line pans with cupcake papers.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

Whisk the egg for 20 seconds, then add the sugar and whisk an additional 30 seconds until thick and frothy.

Add the oil, orange extract and tahini and beat until combined. Alternate the flour mixture and milk and beat until combined.

Add the sesame seeds and mix until just combined.

Divide the batter between wrappers in cupcake tins and bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack completely before frosting.

For the frosting, beat the butter until light and fluffy.

Add 1 cup of sugar, beating until combined. Add the Chinese red bean paste and almond extract.

Finally, add the remaining sugar gradually and heavy cream and whip until light and fluffy.

To assemble the cupcakes, core out the center and fill with some of the Chinese red bean mousse. Top with the frosting, and finish with a drizzle of the miso caramel.

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